Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Marie Selby Gardens: Communion with Nature

After several days of sort of technical blogging on SEO in succession, it's time to take a breather and to infuse some levity or leisure moments into my blog for a change. Let's see, flipping through our digital photo album, my eyes settled on the sub-folder labeled Selby Gardens. And my memory drifted back, though it was not that long ago that we visited the Selby Gardens located at Sarasoto. It was a comfortable hour-long drive, and the exhibits therein blending the splendor of the floral kingdom with the natural bay-side ambience was well-worth the paid admission, and more.

The full name is Marie Selby Gardens. The tagline on its website refers to "a tropical oasis nestled on the bayfront of Sarasota, Florida" and "where fun is in full bloom". Opened in 1975, the Gardens now occupies a bay fringe tract of 13 acres. Guided by the vision that "the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is the leader in the study, conservation, and display of epiphytes and their canopy habitats", the Gardens hosts the best collection of epiphytes in the world. A throng of 180,000 visitors visit the Gardens on an annual basis where they marvel at the beautiful horticultural displays and learn from its offerings of educational programs as well. The Gardens maintains a plant collection numbering more than 20,000 greenhouse plants, plus thousands more in the outdoor gardens.

And we are glad that we decided to undertake this trip, primarily on wify's urging after I defaulted on my ferrying duty several times, and took away with us "a better understanding and greater appreciation of the natural world and the challenges it faces," as what the website promises.

Here then are the unforgetable sights of the Selby Gardens, as my lens captured them.

Right at the entrance.

Reaching out.

Catch me not.

Long tongues.

Horse-faced.

Drooping ribbons.

Color me pink.

Rafts in the air.

Horticulture in a saucer, Japanese style.

Petite beauty, all the way from Malaysia (click image to read the plaque).